From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dauria on a British 1851 map.
As the map was published 7 years before the Treaty of
Aigun, eastern (Amur) Dauria is still shown as part of Chinese
Empire

Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal,
Transbaikalia (Russian: Забайкалье, Zabaykalye), or
Dauria (Даурия, Dauriya) is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Russia. The alternative name, Dauria, is derived
from the ethnonym of the Daur
people. It stretches for almost 1000 km from north to south from the Patomskoye
Plateau and North Baikal Plateau to the Russian state border. The Transbaikal region
covers more than 1000 km from west to east from Baikal to the meridian of the confluence of the
Shilka and Argun Rivers.

From LoveToKnow 1911

TRANSBAIKALIA (sometimes also known as
Dauria), a province of Eastern Siberia, lying E. of Lake Baikal, with the government of Irkutsk on the N.W. and N., the
provinces of Amur and Manchuria on the E. and Mongolia on the S. Its area
(232,846 sq. m.) is nearly as large as that of AustriaHungary, but
its population does not much exceed half a million.

Transbaikalia forms an intermediate link between Siberia, Mongolia and the northern
Pacific littoral. The Yablonoi Mountains, which run north-east from
the sources of the Kerulen to the bend of the Olekma in 56° N.,
divide the province into two quite distinct parts; to the west, the
upper terrace of the high
east Asian plateau, continued from the upper Selenga and the Yenisei (4000 to 5000 ft. high)
towards the plateau of the Vitim (3500 to 4000 ft.); and to the
east the lower terrace of the same plateau (2800 ft.), forming a
continuation of the eastern Gobi.
Beginning at Lake Baikal, a valley, deep and broad, penetrates the
north-western border-ridge of the plateau, and runs eastward up the
river Uda, with an imperceptible gradient, like a gigantic railway cutting enclosed
between two steep slopes, and it sends another branch south towards
Kiakhta. After having
served, through a succession of geological periods, as an outlet
for the water and ice which
accumulated on the plateau, it is now utilized for the two highways
which lead from Lake Baikal across the
plateau (3500-4000 ft.) to the Amur on the east and the Chinese
depression on the south. Elsewhere the high and massive
border-ridge on the north-western edge of the plateau can be
crossed only by difficult footpaths. The border-ridge just
mentioned, gapped by the wide opening of the Selenga, runs from
south-west to north-east under different names, being known as
Khamar-daban (6900 ft.) south of Lake Baikal, and as the Barguzin
Mountains (7000 to 8000 ft.) along the east bank of the Barguzin river, while
farther north-east it has been described under the names of the
South Muya and the Chara Mountains (6000 to 7000 ft.). Resting its
south-east base on the plateau, it descends steeply en the
north-west to the lake and to the broad picturesque valleys of the
Barguzin, Muya and Chara. Thick forests of larch, fir and cedar clothe the ridge, whose dome-shaped rounded summits
(goltsy) rise above the limits of tree vegetation, but do not reach the snow-line (here above 1
0,000 ft.). The high plateau itself has the aspect of an undulating
table-land, intersected by ranges, which rise some 1500 or 2000 ft.
above its surface, and are separated by broad, flat, marshy
valleys, traversed by sluggish meandering streams. The better
drained valleys have fine meadow lands, while the hills are clothed
with forests (almost exclusively of larch and birch). Numberless lakes and ponds occur along
the river courses. Tunguses hunt in the forests and meadows, but
permanent agricultural settlements are impossible, corn seldom ripening on account of the early frost. The lower parts of the
broad, flat valley of the Jida have, however, a few Cossack
settlements, and Mongolian shepherds inhabit the elevated grassy
valleys about Lake Kosso-gol (5300 ft. above the sea). Quite
different is the lower terrace of the plateau, occupied by the
eastern Gobi and the Nerchinsk region, and separated from
the upper terrace by the Yablonoi range. This last is the
southeastern border-ridge of the higher terrace. It rises to 8035
ft. in the Sokhondo peak, but elsewhere its dome-shaped summits do
not exceed 5000 or 6000 ft. Numberless lakes, with flat undefined
margins, feed streams which join the great north-going
rivers or the Amur and the Pacific. Low hills rise above the edge
of the plateau, but the slope is abrupt towards the south-east,
where the foot-hills of the Yablonoi are nearly 1500 and 2000 ft.
lower than on the north-west. Climate, flora and fauna change suddenly as soon as the Yablonoi has
been crossed. The Siberian flora gives way to the Daurian flora,
and this is in turn exchanged for the Pacific littoral flora on the
Manchurian plains and lowlands.

The lower terrace has the character of a steppe, but is intersected by a number of
ranges, plications of Silurian and Devonian rocks, all running south-west
to north-east, and all containing silver, lead, copper and auriferous sands. Agriculture can be
easily carried on in the broad prairies, the only drawbacks being
droughts, and frosts in the higher closed valleys of the Nerchinsk
or Gazimur Mountains. The lower terrace is in its turn fringed by a
border-ridge - the Great Khingan - which occupies, with reference to the
lower terrace, the same position that the Yablonoi does in relation
to the upper, and separates Siberia from northern Manchuria. This
important ridge does not run from south to north, as represented on
the old maps, but from ';south-west to north-east; it is pierced by
the Amur near Aibazin, and joins the Okhotsk Mountains, which
however do not join the Yoblonoi Mountains.

The rivers belong to three different systems - the affluents of
Lake Baikal, of the Lena and of
the Amur. Of the first the Selenga (800 m. long) rises in
north-west Mongolia, one of its tributaries (the Egif-gol) being an
emissary of Lake Kosso-gol. The Chikoi, Khilok and Uda are its
chief tributaries in Transbaikalia. The Barguzin and the upper
Angara enter Lake Baikal from the northeast. Of the tributaries of
the Lena, the Vitim with its affluents (Karenga, Tsipa, and Muya)
flows on the high plateau through uninhabited regions, as also does
the Olekma. The tributaries of the Amur are much more important.
The Argun, which at a quite recent epoch received the waters of the
Dalai-nor, and thus had the Kerulen for its source, is no longer in
communication with the rapidly desiccating Mongolian lake, but has
its sources in the Gan, which flows from the Great Khingan
Mountains. It is not navigable, but receives the Gazimur and
several other streams from the Nerchinsk mining district.
The Shilka is;formed by the union of the Onon and the Chita rivers, and is navigable from
the town of Chita, thus being an important channel to the Amur.

Lake Baikal, with an area of 13,200 sq. m. (nearly equal to that
of Switzerland),
extends in a half crescent
from south-west to north-east, with a length of nearly 400 m. and a
width of 20 to 50 m. Its level is 1,500 ft. above the sea l The
wide delta of the Selenga
narrows it in the middle, and renders it shallower in the east than
in the west. The other lakes include the Gusinoye and Lake Ba-unt
on the Vitim plateau. Many lakes yield common salt.

The high plateau is built up of granites, gneisses and syenites,
overlain by Laurentian schists. Silurian and Devonian marine deposits
occur only on the lower terrace. Since that epoch the region has
not been under the sea, and only fresh-water Jurassic deposits and coal beds are met with in the depressions. During
the Glacial
period most of the high terrace and its border ridges were
undoubtedly covered with vast glaciers. Volcanic rocks of more
recent origin (Mesozoic?) are met with in the north-western
border-ridge and on its slopes, as well as on the Vitim plateau.
During the Glacial period the fauna of the lowest parts of
Transbaikalia was decidedly arctic; while during the Lacustrine or
postGlacial periods this region was dotted over with numberless
lakes, the shores of which were inhabited by Neolithic man. Only few traces of these
survive, and they are rapidly drying up. Earthquakes are very
frequent on the shores of Lake Baikal, especially at the mouth of
the Selenga, and they extend as far as Irkutsk, Barguzin and
Selenginsk; in 1862 an extensive area was submerged by the lake.
Numerous mineral springs, some of them of high repute, exist all
over Transbaikalia. The most important are the hot alkaline springs
(130° F.) at Turka, at the mouth of the Barguzin, those of Pogromna
on the Uda (very similar to the Seltzer springs), those of Molokova
near Chita and those of Darasun in the Nerchinsk district.

The climate is, as a whole, exceedingly dry. The winter is cold
and dry, the thermometer dropping as low as - 58° F. But the snow is so trifling that the horses
of the Buryats are able to procure food throughout the winter on
the steppes, and in the very middle of the winter wheeled vehicles
are used all over the west. To the east of the Yablonoi ridge the
Nerchinsk district feels the influence of the North Pacific
monsoons, and snow falls more thickly, especially in the valleys;
but the summer is hot and dry. On the high plateau even the summer
is cold, owing to the altitude and the humidity arising from the
marshes, and the soil is frozen to a great depth. At Chita the
daily range in summer and spring is sometimes as much as 33° to 46°
In the vicinity of Lake Baikal there is a cooler summer; in winter
exceedingly deep snow covers the mountains around the lake.2 The
estimated population in 1906 was 742,200. The Russian population is gathered around the mines
of the Nerchinsk district, while the steppes are occupied by the
Buryats. A string of villages has been planted along the Shilka
between Chita and Stryetensk. The valleys of the Uda, the
lower Selenga, and especially the Chikoi and the Khilok have been
occupied since the beginning of the 19th century by Raskolniks,
some of whom, living in a condition of prosperity such as is
unknown in 1 There is uncertainty as to the absolute altitude (see
Baikal).

Russia proper, rank amongst
the finest representatives of the Russian race. The remainder of
the steppe of the Uda is occupied by Buryats, while the forests and
marshes of the plateau are the hunting grounds of the nomad Tunguses. South of the Khamar-daban the
only settled region is the lower valley of the Jida. On the Upper
Argun the Cossacks are in
features, character, language and manners largely Mongolian. The
Russians along the Chinese frontier constitute a separate voisko or
division of the Transbaikal Cossacks. The Buryats number about
180,000, the Tunguses over 30,000. The province is divided into
five districts, the chief towns of which are Chita, the capital,
Barguzin, Nerchinsk, Selenginsk and Verkhneudinsk.

Although a good deal of land has been cleared by the settlers,
nearly one-half of the entire area is still covered with forests.
The principal varieties are fir, larch, aspen, poplar and birch, with Abies pectinata
in the north and the cedar in the south. Only about one-third of
the surface is adaptable for cultivation, and of that only about
one-tenth is actually under tillage.

Agriculture is carried on to a limited extent by the Buryats and
in all the Russian settlements; but it prospers only in the valleys
of West Transbaikalia, and partly in the Nerchinsk region, while in
the steppes of the Argun and Onon even the Russians resort to pastoral pursuits and trade,
or to hunting. Livestock rearing is extensively carried on,
especially by the Buryats, but their herds and flocks are often
destroyed in great numbers by the snowstorms of spring. Hunting is
an important occupation, even with the Russians, many of whom leave
their homes in October to spend six weeks in the taiga
(forest region). The fisheries of Lake Baikal and the lower parts
of its affluents are important. Enormous quantities of Salmo
omul are taken every year; and S. thymalus, S.
oxyrhynchus and S. fluviatilis are also taken. Mining, and especially gold mining, is important, but the
production of gold has fallen off. Silver mines have only a very
small output. Iron mining is gradually
developing, and good coal mines are now being worked. Salt is
raised from several lakes, and the extraction of Epsom salts has
considerably developed. Manufactures, though insignificant, have
increased. The trade is chiefly concentrated at Kiakhta. The
Cossacks on the frontier traffic in brick-tea, cattle
and hides with Mongolia. The export of furs is of considerable
value.

Transbaikalia is crossed by the Trans-siberian railway from
Mysovaya on Lake Baikal, via Chita, to Stryetensk, and from
Kaidalovo, near Chita, to the Mongolian frontier; the latter
section is continued across Manchuria to Vladivostok and Port Arthur. Regular steamer communication
has been established along Lake Baikal, not only for the transport
of passengers and goods between the two railway stations of
Listvinichnoye and Mysovaya, but also with the object of developing
the fishing industry, which is of great importance. Steamers ply up
the Selenga river as far as Selenginsk, considerable cargoes of tea
being transported along this line.